Seattle Heritage Tree Tour Begins in West Seattle

We’re on a mission at Ecoyards to tour all of Seattle’s amazing Heritage Trees. The first stop last Sunday was a trip through our West Seattle neighborhood, where we found a grand oak tree at Hiawatha Park.

The red oak at Hiawatha is more than 100 feet wide and was planted in 1911 with nearby trees as part of the first playfield designed by the Olmsted Brothers (they designed New York’s Central Park). It’s native to the northeast U.S. and displays spectacular red and gold in the fall.

The Heritage Tree program was initiated in 1996 by PlantAmnesty to recognize exceptional, historic, or otherwise spectacular trees. There are dozens and dozens of Heritage Trees around the city. They’re identified by a plaque, and owners are given a tree care manual.

You can nominate a tree online—whether it’s a notable collection, grove or avenue of trees, or landmarks of a community. You can nominate trees on public or private property, but you have to have the owner’s approval. The tree also has to be examined by an arborist and be healthy.

The second stop on our Sunday tour was halfway down the block, in one of our neighbor’s backyards. It’s a Douglas fir (pictured right).

We rounded off the morning with a stop at one of the largest Giant Sequoias that we’ve ever seen in this city. This tree near West Seattle’s Morgan Junction is about 100 feet tall and about 93 inches in diameter. The trunk and branching are magnificent on this California native, and it’s one of the largest located on private property in Seattle.